Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deset Gled" data-source="post: 1110460" data-attributes="member: 7808">When I DM, this is fairly close to the ideal setting for combat.  There are, however, a few recalculations that need to be done.First, it is never the "party's total" or "monsters' total" that matters in the heat of battle, it is each character's and monsters total individually.  Every player wants their character to live, and aid in whatever way they can.  Likewise, they need to deal damage to specific enemies to kill them (not every encounter is a swarm, after all)Next, the factor of knowledge comes into play.  The characters know their own HP totals and AC, and average damage and hit rolls, but at times that will be all they know.  They can't always know the AC or HP of the enemy, or what type of damage they resist, so they can't know what they can use to kill them until they've experimented a bit.  During this experimentation is normally when they also find out how much damage the enemy can cause as well.Conversly, there will be times when all of these factors are known to the PCs.  When this happens, and I want the battle to be notable, I make sure that the monsters are always the ones that look mathematically better.  This is when players start to actively use strategy in the game.  They need to figure out how much control they have over the situation, and what things they can alter (either with their situation or their enemies).  In this situation, utility spells and abilities are more useful than damage and hitpoints.  Depending on the situation they may decide to not even have a full battle with the enemies, perhaps sneaking away, or sending out one character to cause a distraction while the others run by.Finally, the "random dice roll" is brought into play.  This is often much more dramatic than anything the players know can happen with a single spell.  When the lead fighter gets critted, it may be time for the party to run from enemies they would normally be able to smack around the room without trouble.  Alternativly, if someone trying to distract a powerful enemy gets a crit on them, the party may decide to stop running away and get in the fray.  Either way, randomness is definetally exciting.Hopefully, somewhere in the midst of all of this, there is a story line, character development, and fun.</blockquote>

Verification